Stark Reality Check

This is going to one of those countdown entries where one can follow the accuracy or inaccuracy of the predictions I am about to set forth.

The topic here is manufacturing- specifically US automotive supplier type manufacturing. I've been in this business for 21 year as of a week from now and I am told those days are numbered. When we hear Ford and GM are in a dwindling spiral, one has to realize there are thousands of suppliers that are affected as well.

When I started working for this company, there was the impending doom axe being sharpened every few years for the full 21 year term. It is the way this wheel turns-the staus quo. We get a contract or two and the axe gets put away. We find other countries willing to provide a cheaper product and the whetstone gets spat on again.

Today I was told that we have three to four months tops based on the orders we have and the prognosis for the immediate future. There is no one to blame here for the situation, I just don't agree with the abandon that has been accepted by the higher ups within my company.

As a company we were, for many years, involved with aftermarket automotive products. Large OEM contracts made it unwise to continue so the line was abandoned. A lower profit ratio was accepted for higher volume. Good business I am told. Now that the market doldrums are upon us I just cannot understand why we are not back in the after market business.

The product we make is aluminum wheels. The street term is "Rims". We make the kind a person gets when you buy the nicer than base model new car. Our out the door cost is well under $100 per unit. Break one on your 2003 T-Bird and the Ford parts counter will ask you to plunk down $350.00 or more. That's commerce they say. It's the way it is and one is free to choose not to play.

Aftermarket is a whole new ballgame. The above mentioned cost does not change much on our end, but now we call the shots where retail cost is concerned. That same $300 + will not get you much for your dollar. Try doubling it to start with an 18" wheel and then go up from there. The bad guys are not the Chinese, Koreans or Mexicans that make these. They are not in gouging mode in fact they crank them out and get the same $100.00 or less per unit (it's the middle man). In fact, I think they are shocked to see the mark-up that takes place once their product reaches our shores. They wish they were a US manufacturer who could churn out product and market it locally.

Stay tuned to see how this turns out.

On Golden Kong

I got a chance to see the new King Kong yesterday and have to say I was pleasantly surprised. Part of the surprise was that I returned with $2.00 change from the $40.00 that my son and I had when we entered te theatre. The other was that I found a place within myself to appreciate :

1. A movie with Jack Black in it
2. A movie loaded with special effects
3. A 3 hour movie
4. That my son had his student ID with him

Being a few years shy of middle age and born and raised here in the states I realize it is an anomaly to have never seen any version of Kong prior to this but that is the case. One might be surprised at what else I have intentionally deprived myself of in the cinematic realm. I knew the premise, but more from soundbites and spin-offs, like one might have seen on Underdog , rather than the actual movies or books.

My son who is 15 gave the movie a 7.5 because there was a lot of, "that couldn't happen in real life" involved. I gave it an 8 which is high end- real high end in fact, as I was able to adapt a to hell with real life outlook. I heard my son say to my daughter the following day, "Dad didn't even fall asleep once."

The movie? Well a guy with aspirations, a line of BS and no ethics meets a desperate gal who he talks into going on an movie making venture/expedition where they eventually run aground at an island where digital madness awaits only to find a gorilla (2 hours expended) that they return to New York with in an attempt to strike it rich only to see it unravel.

Sick at Home

It's been awhile since I have been completely shut down by the flu but here I am away from work for the second day- with a weekend sandwiched between.

Things I have learned from this episode:

• Basic cable is a terrible place to try to spend five or six hours a day.
• My dogs are freekin' lazy
• People don't email, even junk, when you want them to
• Benadryl, Robitussin and Motrin, taken together, do not enhance the creative thought process
• eBay book sellers have the worst feedback imaginable
• A watched pot eventually boils
• There may be an error in the math formula for "Dog Years" - try divide by 7
• The empathetic child is the next one to get sick
• Flu symptoms + medication = 0 earthquake anxiety